Marijuana Campaign Analysis: Because I Got High

I Wrote This Because I Got High
Marijuana has become the most controversial drug in the current era. With both sides on marijuana legalization spreading lies or bending the truth about marijuana to advance their political agenda, it is challenging for the younger generation to learn and understand the truth about marijuana. Anti-drug campaigns such as the Just Say No Campaign do not educate kids about marijuana, but rather rely on convincing kids to blindly say no to marijuana. Afroman's "Because I Got High" provides a different perspective about marijuana. While the song glorifies getting high with its upbeat and fun tone, the lyrics seem to expose the consequences of getting high. “Because I Got High” provides examples that warn people about

The campaign’s message about marijuana heavily exaggerates the negative effects of marijuana in an attempt to scare kids away from marijuana. However, exaggerating the consequences of marijuana actually lowers the campaign’s credibility. When a kid sees or hears a claim by the campaign that they deem ridiculous and fabricated, they might disregard the rest of the campaign’s claims and believe consuming marijuana has no negative consequences. The main point of the Just Say No campaign just tells kids to say no to marijuana, which is not effective because kids will naturally want to do the opposite. Finally, a meta-analysis of twenty controlled studies assessing the effects of the D.A.R.E program on students concluded that the D.A.R.E program did not cause a statistically significant decrease in the number of kids who participate in underage drinking and smoking marijuana, but rather there was a slight increase (Bai and Pan 7). The Just Say No Campaign not only fails to achieve its sole purpose of decreasing drug use; the anti-drug campaign ironically increases drug use. Overall, the Just Say No Campaign has several, significant flaws in the message itself and their delivery of the